The Delta variant is 0% of new U.S. cases
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportionsOmicron is the only game in town at the moment.
= new reply since forum marked as read
What is the BA.2 or “stealth” Omicron subvariant?
The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently monitoring the original Omicron variant, BA.1, along with several additional subvariants BA.1.1, BA.2 and BA.3. The subvariant BA.2 has been referred to as “stealth” Omicron because it has genetic mutations that could make it harder to distinguish from the Delta variant using PCR tests as compared to the original version of Omicron. The Omicron variant has been classified as a variant of concern by the WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The WHO has indicated that since BA.2 is Omicron, it is a variant of concern.
The Omicron variant spreads more easily than the original SARS-CoV-2 strain of the virus that causes COVID-19, and previous variants, including Delta. According to Danish scientists, the Omicron subvariant BA.2, is 1.5 times more transmissible than the original Omicron strain. While there is currently no evidence that the BA.2 lineage is more severe than the BA.1 lineage, experts have warned that BA.2 could extend the current wave of COVID-19 infections in the U.S.
In the Feb. 2, 2022, episode of the COVID-19 Video Update, AMA Director of Science, Medicine and Public Health Andrea Garcia, JD, MPH, said that cases of BA.2 have increased in Denmark, India and in the U.K. and it could drag out the Omicron surge in much of the world.
“In the U.S., BA.2 is about 8% of our cases right now,” Garcia said. “While BA.2 does not appear to cause more severe disease and our vaccines appear to be effective, BA.2 does show signs of spreading more easily, which really could translate into that slowing down of the trend we're seeing with cases declining.”
(snip)
https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/what-ba2-or-stealth-omicron-subvariant
They said that almost 2 years ago.
As long as you have pockets around the world infected, some new variant can emerge and spark yet another wave. We have been through at least 5 waves now (and trying to get out of a 6th, which has been the worst in terms of transmission) with people STILL "predicting" that it would be "endemic any day now".
After EVERY ONE of those peaks in the above chart, it was declared "over" and many people insisted they would go "back to normal", and then BAM! 
(sorry to rant at your post 
)
was that it was suggesting that there were few "lockdowns" and only for a short period of time and that is not the case at all. Most of the "blue/purple states", which have the largest populations - and that included states like California, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, etc. who DID institute major shutdowns of schools and "non-essential businesses", and even had lists of states where travelers coming in from those states were required to quarantine. All of them also had "stay at home" orders, which is exactly like what Europe did - i.e., everything wasn't completely "locked down" in the literal sense there or here for obvious reasons, because the essential services were needed (groceries, pharmacies, etc).
And you also need to consider that an "international ban on travel" was instituted here - i.e., a "Public Health Emergency" was declared January 31, 2020 and travelers from China were banned, and the list grew to include European countries as the months passed... and even as late as this past November, new countries were added as Omicron exploded, after other restrictions were lifted just a few weeks earlier, including between the U.S. and Canada/Mexico. And those last countries on the latest list were finally dropped at the end of December.
And I have posted that each one of those countries is like a state in population here and many of our states, like here in PA and in NY DID NOT have a "minimal amount of disruption".
The schools here in Philly were virtual for 18 months due to the "disruption".
How the hell can one consider the "supply chain" issue with barges STILL backed up in ports like California, not a "disruption"?
I sat in on our city's now-biweekly COVID-19 status briefing this morning as they were announcing the steps to begin to lift some restrictions based on the data (using a tiered level of criteria to decide), and agree with our mayor's exasperation, where he basically said -"If people would JUST do what they have been told to do these past couple years with masking and getting vaccinated, then we would not be in this position today".
There are some states who ARE counting them (although also keeping their tally separate), like my state - Pennsylvania. But obviously ONLY if they are reported to the state, usually by medical personnel. I.e., they are being called "presumptive positives".
So yes the actual results would be way higher if all of the rapid tests were reported. And note that there are other types of tests that are done - like antibody diagnostic tests that are often done in the hospital setting, and those are not PCR nor antigen tests (where most of the rapid tests are antigen type).
and others just "declare" something based on whatever pops in their mind... with zero evidence, goal post moves, and no reference to where they are getting their ideas. 
There are people who are working in certain occupations or who are, for example IN PRISON where testing is done continually and results are reported to, and tracked by the state/counties/municipalities where the prison is located (and in applicable cases, to the federal Bureau of Prisons who manages the federal prisons).
For example, here is the data from here in PA for the state prison cases that have been tracked - https://www.cor.pa.gov/Pages/COVID-19.aspx
The same has been going on in longterm care and rehab facilities, etc. They are not doing deep nasal swabs on many of those folks. And because of the backlogs for PCR results, given a sensitive enough antigen test (and there are a handful out there that are), then results of those can be submitted as a "presumptive positive" and a PCR follow-up can happen later and get reconciled with the state/county/local health personnel who are compiling the data.
THAT is the "context" and it got worse from there.
By Emily Rauhala
February 8, 2020
As a mysterious virus spread through Wuhan last month, the World Health Organization had a message: China has got this. And as the coronavirus swept across the Chinese heartland and jumped to other nations, the WHO’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, applauded the “transparency” of the Chinese response.
Even as evidence mounted that Chinese officials had silenced whistleblowers and undercounted cases, Tedros took a moment to extol the leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Now — more than a month into an escalating global health crisis — there are questions about whether the WHO’s praise in the early weeks created a false sense of security that potentially spurred the virus’s spread.
“We were deceived,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University who also provides technical assistance to the WHO. “Myself and other public health experts, based on what the World Health Organization and China were saying, reassured the public that this was not serious, that we could bring this under control,” he continued.
“We were,” he added, “giving a false sense of assurance.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinese-officials-note-serious-problems-in-coronavirus-response-the-world-health-organization-keeps-praising-them/2020/02/08/b663dd7c-4834-11ea-91ab-ce439aa5c7c1_story.html
World Health Organization Declares COVID-19 a 'Pandemic.' Here's What That Means
By Jamie Ducharme
March 11, 2020 12:39 PM EDT
The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic, pointing to the over 118,000 cases of the coronavirus illness in over 110 countries and territories around the world and the sustained risk of further global spread. “This is not just a public health crisis, it is a crisis that will touch every sector,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, at a media briefing. “So every sector and every individual must be involved in the fights.”
An epidemic refers to an uptick in the spread of a disease within a specific community. By contrast, the WHO defines a pandemic as global spread of a new disease, though the specific threshold for meeting that criteria is fuzzy. The term is most often applied to new influenza strains, and the CDC says it’s used when viruses “are able to infect people easily and spread from person to person in an efficient and sustained way” in multiple regions. The declaration refers to the spread of a disease, rather than the severity of the illness it causes.
In some ways, declaring a pandemic is more art than science. “Pandemics mean different things to different people,” National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said in February. “It really is borderline semantics, to be honest with you.”
During multiple prior press briefings, WHO officials maintained that COVID-19 had “pandemic potential,” but stopped short of declaring it one. The agency did, in January, call it a public health emergency of international concern, a slightly different label that refers to an “extraordinary event” that “constitute[s] a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease.”
https://time.com/5791661/who-coronavirus-pandemic-declaration/